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The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was the name given to the campaigns of the Pacific War in India, Burma, Thailand, Indochina, Malaya and Singapore.

Allied Command Structure

At the start of the war the British had two commands with responsibilities for possessions in the theatre. India Command under General Sir Archibald Wavell the Commander-in-Chief (CinC) of the Army of India and the Far East Command, first under Air Chief Marshal Robert Brooke-Popham and then from December 23, 1941 commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Royds Pownall.

India Command was responsible for India, Ceylon, and for some of the time Burma. The Far East Command based in Singapore was responsible for Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and other British Far East possessions including, for some of the time, Burma.

A month after the outbreak of war with Japan on December 7, 1941, the Allied governments jointly appointed the British Commander-in-Chief (CinC) of the Army of India, General Sir Archibald Wavell, as Supreme Allied Commander of all "American-British-Dutch-Australian" (ABDA) forces in South East Asia and the Pacific, from Burma to the Dutch East Indies.

However, advances made by the Japanese over the next month split the ABDA forces in two. After transferring the forces in Burma to the India Command, on February 25, 1942 Wavell resigned as commander of the ABDA and resumed his position of CinC of the Army of India. Responsibility for the South West Pacific Area passed to US General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific.

From February 1942 until November 1943 the India Command was responsible for the South East Asian Theatre. General Wavell was made Viceroy of India and General Claude Auchinleck became Commander-in-Chief of the India Command on the 20th June, 1943. In August 1943 the Allies formed a new South East Asian Command to take over strategic responsibilities for the theatre.

The reorganisation of the theatre command took about two months. On October 4 Winston Churchill appointed Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten supreme Allied commander of the South East Asia Command (SEAC). The American General Joseph Stilwell was the first deputy supreme Allied commander. On November 15, Auchinleck handed over responsibility for the conduct of operations against the Japanese in the theatre to Mountbatten.

The initial land forces operational area for SEAC included India, Burma, Ceylon and Malaya. Operations were also mounted in Japanese-occupied Sumatra, Thailand and French Indochina.

Initially SEAC commanded:

In October 1944, CBI was split into US Forces China Theater (USFCT) and India-Burma Theater (USFIBT).

On November 12, 1944 Eleventh Army Group redesignated by Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) combining Commonwealth and US forces, with an HQ at Kandy. On December 1 ALFSEA HQ moved to Barrackpore, India.

On August 15, 1945 responsibility for the rest of the Dutch East Indies was transferred from the South West Pacific Area to SEAC.

SEAC was disbanded on November 30,1946.

11th Army Group

British 11th Army Group ( November 1943 – November 12 1944) was on paper the main Commonwealth army force in South East Asia which directed

On November 12 1944 the 11th Army Group was redesignated Allied Land Forces South East Asia , still under SEAC, because it was felt that an inter-Allied command was better than the purely British headquarters. Command problems with General Stilwell and his interactions with the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had precipitated the change.

Japanese Command Structure

The Imperial Japanese Army Unit controlling all army land and air units was the Southern Expeditionary Army headquartered in Saigon, Indochina. It was commanded by General Count Hisaichi Terauchi (called Juichi), who commanded it from 1941 to 1945. The Japanese also deployed the South Seas Force, a combined force of Army and Special Naval Landing Force personnel. The Southern Army consisted of 11 infantry divisions, 6 independent infantry brigades, and 6 tank regiments, plus artillery and support troops. Its major field commands were the 14th Army, the 15th Army, the 16th Army and the 25th Army. The Japanese extensively used bicycle infantry, which allowed them quick movement over vast distances.

Initial Japanese successes

The Allies suffered many disastrous defeats in the first six months of the war. Two major British warships, HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were sunk by a Japanese air attack off Malaya on December 10, 1941. Following a token resistance at the battles of Prachuab Khirikhan, Nakorn Sri Thammarat, Chumporn, Songkhla, and Pattani, the government of Thailand formally allied itself with Japan on December 21. Hong Kong fell on December 25. January saw the invasions of Burma and the Dutch East Indies and the capture of Manila and Kuala Lumpur.

The Japanese Southern Army's 1st Parachute Brigade was used with good effect in the seizure of Sumatra (see Battle of Palembang).

Malaya and Singapore

Japanese forces met stiff resistance from III Corps of the Indian Army, the Australian 8th Division and British units during the Battle of Malaya, but Japan's superiority in air power, tanks and infantry tactics drove the Allied units back. After being driven out of Malaya, Allied forces in Singapore, under the command of Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, surrendered to the Japanese on February 15, 1942; about 130,000 Allied troops became prisoners of war. The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender in British military history.

The Japanese Indian Ocean raid

The Japanese Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Fast Carrier Strike Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 31 March to 10 April 1942 against Allied shipping and bases in the Indian Ocean. Following the destruction of the ABDACOM forces in the battles around Java in February and March, the Japanese sortied into the Indian Ocean to destroy British seapower there and support the invasion of Burma. The raid was only partially successful. It did not succeed in destroying Allied naval power in the Indian Ocean but it did force the British fleet to relocate to Kilindini in east Africa.

Japanese occupation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

main article Invasion and Occupation of the Andaman Islands during World War II

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands (8,293 sq km on 139 islands), are a group of islands situated in the Bay of Bengal at about 780 miles from Kolkata, 740 miles from Chennai and 120 miles from Cape Nargis in Burma. On March 23 1942 a Japanese invasion force seize the islands and occupied them until the end of the war.

On December 29, 1943, political control of the islands was theoretically passed to the Azad Hind government of Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose visited Port Blair to raise the tricolour flag of the Indian National Army. After Bose's departure the Japanese remained in effective control of the Andamans, and the sovereignty of the Arzi Hukumat-e Hind was largely fictional C.A. Bayly & T. Harper Forgotten Armies. The Fall of British Asia 1941-5 (London) 2004 p325 . The islands themselves were renamed "Shaheed" and "Swaraj", meaning "martyr" and "self-rule" respectively. Bose placed the islands under the governorship of one Lieutenant-Colonel Loganathan, and had limited involvement with the administration of the territory.

Burma Campaign

See the Burma Campaign for details on:

US forces in the China Burma India Theatre

Western Allies support for the Chinese

One of the major logistical efforts of the war was "flying the Hump" over the Himalayas and the building of the Ledo Road from India to China as a replacement for the Burma Road.

RAF

See RAF Far East Air Force, RAF Third Tactical Air Force

Battle honours

CEYLON 1942 Qualification: For operations against Japanese aircraft and naval units by squadrons based in Ceylon during the Japanese attacks of April 1942.

BURMA 1944-1945 Qualification: For operations during the 14th Army's advance from Imphal to Rangoon, the coastal amphibious assaults, and the Battle of Pegu Yomas, August 1944 to August 1945.

Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean retreat

Following the Japanese Indian Ocean raid in eary 1942, the British Eastern Fleet retreated to Kilindini near Mombasa in Kenya, as their more forward fleet anchorages could not be adequately protected from Japanese attack. The fleet in the Indian Ocean was then gradually reduced to little more than a convoy escort force as other commitments called for the more powerful ships. From May 1942, it was also used in the invasion of Madagascar — an operation aimed at thwarting any attempt by Japan to use bases on the Vichy French controlled territory.

Indian Ocean Strike

The earliest successes were gained by mine laying and submarine warfare. The Japanese minesweeping capability was never great, and when confronted with new types of mines they did not adapt quickly. Japanese shipping was driven from the Burmese coast using this type of warfare. British submarines based in Ceylon operated against Japanese shipping.

It was only after the war in Europe was clearly coming to an end that large British forces were dispatched to the Indian Ocean again. Following the neutralisation of the German fleet in late 1943 and early 1944 force from the Home Fleet were released, and the success of Operation Overlord in June meant even more craft could be sent, including precious amphibious assault shipping.

During late 1944, as more British aircraft carriers came into the area a series of strikes were flown against oil targets in Sumatra to prepare British carriers for the upcoming operations in the Pacific. The USS Saratoga was lent for the first attack by the United States. The oil installations were heavily damaged by the attacks, aggravating the Japanese fuel shortages due to the American blockade. The final attack was flown as the carriers were heading for Sydney to become the British Pacific Fleet.

After the departure of the main battle forces the Indian Ocean was left with escort carriers and older battleships as the mainstay of its naval forces. Nevertheless, during those months important operations were launched in the recapture of Burma, including landings on Ramree and Akyab and near Rangoon.

Other

See also

References

  • Defeat Into Victory by Field Marshal William Slim is the definitive account of the Burma campaign.

External links

Military of Singapore under British rule | World War II Southeast Asia Theatre

第二次世界大战东南亚战区

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "South-East Asian theatre of World War II".

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